Ascertaining the exact historical beginnings of a concept such as body tattoos is a difficult task at best but, research has clearly shown that it is certainly not a recent phenomenon. Some believe that the word tattoo is derived from combining the Polynesian word “TA” which means to strike something with the Tahitian word “TATAU” which means to mark something. The existence of tattoos has been determined to be at least five thousand years old. This belief was based on the 1991 discovery of a frozen body on a European mountain. The frozen body bore a total of 57 tattoos. Today, tattoos are included in the broad spectrum of body art. Body tattoos have considerable range from a small flower, initial, etc. to a full-body themed tattoo such as Tom Leppard whose entire body is covered with leopard spots.
Whatever is the tattoo of choice, it is clear tattoos are art. The typical tattoo bearer makes a statement about himself or herself through the tattoo, whether it is politically motivated love motivated, vanity motivated or simply an affectionate attachment to the object or style of the tattoo. Likewise, the person applying the tattoo is certainly referred to as a tattoo artist.
As is typical with most artists, the tattoo artist uses a set of tools or objects to create art where there once was none. In the tattoo arena, the primary took that is utilized by the tattoo artist is the tattoo gun. The tattoo gun in the hand of a tattoo artist is similar to the brush in the hand of a painter or a piece of charcoal in the hand of a drawer. As such, the touch and feel of the tattoo gun becomes important to the tattoo artist and in essence becomes an extension of their artistic being. Thus, it is not surprising that in general, most available tattoo guns or applicators have a similar look and feel to them. It is a design that has become popular and accepted in the industry.
In the forming of a tattoo on skin, one or more needles carrying a small quantity of ink is utilized. The needle penetrates the skin leaving a small spot of the ink which will result in the production of the discoloration the skin. Repeating this procedure numerous times in a particular pattern with one or more ink colors of ink will result in the production of a desired tattoo.
In the creation of most tattoos, it is required to insert a needle into the skin hundreds of times, and in some tattoos, even thousands of times. A common technique of producing a tattoo is to manually insert and withdraw a needle each and every time. In order to decrease the amount of time it takes to make a tattoo, in the past it has been known to use some kind of a mechanism that causes the needle to oscillate rapidly with the user only being required to carefully move the needle from one location to another. These locations are generally adjacent to each other, and the needle will be moved continually from these locations until the desired pattern of the tattoo is reproduced. In the past, this type of mechanism has been operated with a plugged in power source.
A very important feature of modern day tattoo guns is maintaining consistent oscillations of the needle(s). For instance, when an artist is drawing the lines or outlining the tattoo, the needle(s) oscillate at a first frequency. However, when the artist is shading in areas of the tattoo, the needles generally oscillate at a slower speed. In addition, in many circumstances the depth or range of needle motion is varied. For instance, the range can be modified to penetrate deeper into the skin for leathery or darker skins, and less deep for soft pale skins. In addition, certain looks can be achieved by varying the depth of the ink penetration. Thus, maintaining the oscillation frequency as well as the motion range of the oscillation is important to the artist to enable consistency in the application of the ink and control. In the past, the oscillation frequency has been provided by using a stabilized voltage source that is fed to the tattoo gun from an external voltage supply through one or more wires.
The current generation of tattoo machines is moving towards a wireless or non-connected type of arrangement. However, the typical wireless tattoo mechanisms on the market are either too unsanitary and/or have too much extra weight resulting in an artist having to struggle while creating a tattoo or experiencing fatigue. There are numerous problems with existing wireless tattoo applicators. For instance, employing inefficient voltage conversion technology has resulted in using oversized batteries and hence, resulting in too much extra weight in the tattoo gun. In addition, the lack of universal compatibility has resulted in creating a sanitation issue in that a voltage controller which is used with a possibly infected glove may be used numerous times throughout the process of a tattoo. Another issue that is present in the state of the art is wireless interference that can affect the operation of the wireless tattoo applicator. Yet another issue relates to the inconsistency of power and/or frequency used to control the tattoo gun. Even further, the input voltage of the tattoo applicator can be influenced by the external power supply and is therefore unreliable.
Furthermore, most tattoo devices are controlled by a foot pedal, the depression of which causes the tattoo device to operate. For typical wired tattoo devices, with a cable spanning from the foot pedal to the tattoo device, pedal operation to control the device works reasonably well. However, when switching to a wireless communication scheme, new issues arise. For instance, wireless communication between a foot pedal and a tattoo device must be performed at low power. This low power requirement is due in part to regulations dictated by the Federal Communications Commission as well as the practicalities of having multiple devices operating within the same shared physical space.
The control signals sent from the foot pedal to the tattoo device suffer attenuation if objects block the line-of-sight path between the pedal and the tattoo device. One such object will be the foot of the pedal operator. That is, as the operator depresses the foot pedal, the operator's foot is very likely to be placed between the transmitting antenna of the foot pedal and the tattoo device.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a wireless or cordless tattoo mechanism that can improve the usability of the device from the artists' perspective, as well as provide a sanitary environment for both the artist and the customer. Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.